I Have A Terminally Ill Duke As My Husband - Chapter 45
“My lady, it’s dusty out here. Let’s go inside first. Ed, please finish up here.”
“Understood. Clea, I’ll see you later then.”
“Now, let’s go in, my lady.”
“Ah. Y-yes.”
“Oh my? The house is cozy and tidy.”
As Clea entered and looked around the house, Charles followed and said:
“Goodness, don’t tell me you’ve been cleaning this house and preparing meals all by yourself without any servants?”
“Huh? Ah. Well, it’s not that difficult.”
“No wonder you’ve lost so much weight, it’s because you’ve been working so hard. But don’t worry. Now that I’m here, you don’t have to do anything, my lady.”
Charles rolled up her sleeves, opened the window, and started wiping the table.
“W-wait a moment, Charles. I mean. I’m no longer a lady.”
Ignoring Mercian’s words, Clea led her to the sofa and said:
“My lady, your legs must be tired. Please sit here first. John, are you not done yet? My lady must be hungry. You always had breakfast at 8 AM.”
“Please wait a moment, Head Maid. My lady, I’m truly touched. To think that my kitchen and the location of all ingredients are identical. Please wait just a little longer. I’ll prepare a special dish I developed just for you.”
Was our house always this small?
When I lived alone, I thought it was quite spacious. But with Clea, Charles, and John moving about, the house suddenly feels quite small.
By the way, this really isn’t a dream, is it?
I thought I’d never see them again after Ruan left…
Seeing people talking to her as if they had met just yesterday, Mercian smiled unconsciously as she recalled her life at the duke’s mansion from long ago.
“My lady. The meal is ready now, please come and eat.”
“Oh, thank you.”
Led by Charles’s hand to the dining table, Mercian saw the table full of dishes.
Seeing the food, Mercian suddenly felt something welling up inside her.
The familiar smell. The familiar foods. And the people she missed the most.
It felt like a dream to Mercian that the people she had longed for so much were here.
“Wow. What is all this? My goodness, John, did you prepare all this in such a short time?”
Holding back tears, Mercian asked John, who proudly replied holding a ladle:
“Come, please try it. My lady, these are dishes I specially prepared for you.”
“Thank you, John. Charles, go call Ed and let’s all eat together.”
“Yes!”
Mercian had the most enjoyable and happiest breakfast since leaving the duke’s mansion, eating with those who were more like family to her than her actual family, whom she had missed so much.
Should I open the door?
Ruan hesitated as he was about to grab the doorknob in front of Mercian’s house.
Mercian’s voice coming from inside the house, talking with people from the other duke’s household, sounded so bright and beautiful that he felt he shouldn’t go in.
I brought them all just in case, but it seems it was the right decision.
I’m glad. Even if I can’t see you directly, I can hear your bright voice again.
Ruan stood in front of Mercian’s house door for a long time, listening to her voice coming from inside.
“Hohoho, my goodness, Rosaline? I prefer my lady’s previous name. Don’t you agree, Head Maid?”
“That may be so, but if my lady wishes to change her name, it doesn’t matter. Whatever your name is, you’ll always be our lady.”
“That’s right. But John, what is this stew? It’s really delicious.”
“You’re right, Charles. It’s really delicious. John, this stew is so good. Before you go back to the capital, teach me how to make it.”
Pretending not to hear Mercian’s words, John took a spoonful of stew and replied proudly with a satisfied expression:
“Haha, this is a special pork stew made with the pork my lady usually likes. I worked hard to make it thinking of you.”
Hearing John’s words, Charles pouted enviously and grumbled:
“That’s not fair, John. Trying to score points with my lady like this. I thought it was suspicious when you were so insistent on coming down. It wasn’t because you were worried about the master’s meals, but because you wanted to make new dishes to impress my lady?”
“Charles, don’t forget. It’s all thanks to me that we found my lady.”
As John replied to Charles’s grumbling, Mercian asked with a puzzled expression:
“What do you mean by that, John? You found me?”
“Well.”
John blushed slightly at Mercian’s question and answered:
“The owner of a tea shop I know said he ate a sandwich that tasted exactly like the ones I make. So I thought maybe, and it really was the sandwich I made. That’s how I found out. That my lady was the one who made that sandwich.”
Mercian recalled Zelda’s proposal from before at John’s words.
So the person who said the sandwich was delicious and suggested selling it in the capital was someone John knew.
“Ah. So that tea shop owner Zelda mentioned before was someone you knew?”
“Yes. So it’s thanks to me that we found my lady. And later, when we found out through Lord Cassel that my lady was really alive, we were all so relieved.”
Ah. So that’s how they found me.
Mercian could now understand exactly how Ruan had found her.
“Of course, we were happy that my lady was safe, but actually, after you left like that, the master went around looking for you without eating or sleeping. We thought we might really have to hold the master’s funeral at this rate.”
Without eating or sleeping?
“Ah. Come to think of it, hasn’t Ruan come down?”
As Edward shook his head as if they had barely avoided a great disaster, Mercian, who had been wearing a troubled expression, tried to change the subject. Clea jumped up from her seat and shouted:
“Oh my? Goodness, I completely forgot about the master. I was so happy to see my lady that I forgot the master was in the mansion across the street and that I was supposed to bring him along. No, wait. My lady hasn’t forgiven the master yet, so you’d be uncomfortable. Well, I guess we can’t call the master anyway.”
“No, that may be true, but then what about Ruan’s meal…”
At Mercian’s words, Edward stood up and asked John:
“My lady, I’ll go check. John, is there any food left?”
“Yes, I set aside some for the master.”
“Then my lady, I’ve finished my meal, so I’ll take some food to the master.”
“Ah. Yes. Please do.”
As Edward got up to gather food at Mercian’s words, John also stood up and said:
“I’ve finished eating too, so I’ll be going now. I need to check the kitchen at the master’s house.”
“Okay, go ahead.”
“Then the rest of you continue talking with my lady.”
As Edward and John left Mercian’s house with food, Mercian murmured with an apologetic expression:
“I feel bad. Ruan’s breakfast is delayed because of me.”
At Mercian’s words, Clea brought more food in front of her and said:
“My lady, don’t worry and eat some more of this. Goodness, if you’ve lost this much weight, you must have been terribly ill, and it’s all because of the master, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s not exactly like that, but by the way, Clea, was Ruan really that unwell? He looked fine on the outside when I saw him last time.”
Of course, I knew he was taking medicine from the sorcerer because he couldn’t sleep…
Seeing Mercian’s worried expression, Clea smiled as if telling her not to worry and replied:
“Ah. Don’t worry too much. Even without the addiction, I mean curse, the master has never eaten well from before. At least when you were here, my lady, he ate breakfast and dinner with you and had some meals, but after you left, he barely ate even one meal a day. It was so bad that Lady Canoloup said he looked worse than when she was cursed.”
At Clea’s words, Charles nodded and replied:
“Right? He actually looked healthier when my lady was here. Sometimes maids who saw him walking alone in the duke’s mansion at night fainted thinking he was a ghost. No matter how much we told him to eat, he kept refusing food saying how could he eat and sleep when he didn’t even know if my lady was alive or dead. Eventually, the aunt asked Duke Heineve for help, and the duke stayed at the mansion for a while, forcing him to eat. It was like a war every time he ate.”
Earl Tablo stayed at the duke’s mansion and forced Ruan to eat?
It was that bad?
Ruan. What kind of life did you live after I left?
Mercian’s expression darkened more and more at Charles’s words.
Noticing Mercian’s reaction, Clea added to Charles’s words:
“Was that all? And he slept so little too. I never knew a person could live for so long without sleeping.”
“Sleep? I know he had insomnia originally, but I thought he was taking sleeping pills. He was even taking medicine prescribed by the sorcerer.”
At Mercian’s worried expression, Charles tore off a piece of bread, put it in her mouth, and replied tilting her head:
“Well, I’m not sure about that, but they say when he’s under mental stress, his nerves become so sensitive that he can’t sleep even with sleeping pills. After you left, my lady, he slept at most two hours? The rest of the time he didn’t even come out of the study and worked all night. Can you believe Lord Cassel said he finished a year’s worth of delayed work in those 4 months? No matter how much we told him to sleep, he said he couldn’t sleep, so Lord Cassel had no choice but to get that sorcerer’s medicine.”
He only slept two hours a day? What on earth did you do after I left?
Mercian’s feelings became even more complicated at Charles’s words.
“Ah. I see…”
“But well, he should endure that much, right? He deceived my lady and even pretended to be dead. If he didn’t suffer at least that much, would he be human? Don’t you agree, Head Maid?”
At Charles’s words, Clea nodded while eating soup.
“Of course. My lady, don’t worry about the master. He’s fine now, isn’t he? In my opinion, my lady seems more serious than the master. You’ll really need to eat a lot to return to how you were before.”
Yes… return to before? Was it really not that they disliked how I looked then?
Mercian had lost weight due to illness, but she was also trying to maintain her figure by eating as little as possible, fearing that if she gained weight again, people would see her as lazy and useless like before.
“Clea. Isn’t this appearance much better? To be honest, I didn’t look very good before, did I?”
At Mercian’s words, Clea tilted her head and replied:
“You, my lady? I’m not sure. Of course, your current appearance isn’t bad, but I… I shouldn’t say this, but I thought my lady with her round face and soft flesh was cuter and more lovable before. Don’t you think so, Charles?”
“I think so too, but well, if my lady says she prefers her current appearance, it doesn’t matter to me. We’re fine with whatever appearance my lady has, as long as you’re healthy. Right, Head Maid?”
“Of course.”
Mercian felt her heart warming at Clea and Charles’s sincere words.
Really, they like me for who I am, not based on how I look on the outside.
Zelda, Clea, Charles, the other people from the duke’s household, aunt…
It feels so good and happy to have such people by my side.
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
Link to read
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